King Henry III has suppressed the elected Parliament and returned England to the abusive governance that the Provisions of Oxford of 1258 corrected. But a new force is rising to oppose him. Young lords, the common people, even the outlaws of Sherwood and the Weald are organizing, led by Simon's cousin Peter de Montfort and Gilbert de Clare. Condemned as a traitor, Simon is lured back to England from his refuge in France where he has taken the Cross of a crusader and is about to leave for the Holy Land. Seeing the cause he championed reviving, he agrees to be the leader of this new army. In the end he will be recognized by the people as the Angel of the Apocalypse, as the thousand year process commences in which the Church and nations dissolve in a single world order governed by the common people inspired by the Holy Spirit -- as predicted in the millennial theology of Joachim de Flor.